When news broke on December 5, 2025, that Warner Bros. had accepted an offer from Netflix, it didn’t take long for most of the entertainment news of the day to talk about the acquisition. Big deals like this one, which has an equity value of $72 billion, take a lot of time to process, so it could be 12 to 18 months before anything is finalized. Add to that the many people fearing a monopoly and anti-trust lawsuits, so while Warner Bros. okayed the sale, that doesn’t mean it will go through. Regardless, assuming it does, there will be a huge impact on video games. Warner Bros. owns Warner Bros. Games, a publisher that launched in 2004.
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It owns several development studios, including NetherRealm Studios, TT Games, WB Games Boston, Avalanche Software, Rocksteady Studios, WB Games Montréal, and others. That’s a lot of studios, and should the deal go through, Netflix will acquire every IP owned by WB. Games, and there are a lot of pretty big ones. Some of the more notable are those associated with DC Comics, including Batman: Arkham and the Injustice series. Others include Mortal Kombat, Scribblenauts, and many more, which will soon fall to Netflix Games, which launched in 2021. The deal is likely to impact the forthcoming Hogwarts Legacy 2, among others.
The WB Acquisition Will Elevate Netflix Games Into a Massive IP-Wielding Behemoth
The media landscape is about to change significantly, so we could see HBO Max wiped out and replaced by Netflix, much like Disney has absorbed Hulu into Disney+. There are tons of IPs owned by Warner Bros. that could impact future games, including the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter franchises, so “big” doesn’t begin to describe what this acquisition deal will involve. TT Games is the studio behind the hugely popular LEGO video games, and while Netflix Games has worked hard to produce content related to the streaming service’s properties, more are likely on the way.
Hogwarts Legacy was a successful return to J.K. Rowling’s magical world, and it did gangbusters, ensuring a sequel would follow. Indeed, one has been in active development at Avalanche Software, but that could change. While the studio could be left alone to finish its work, it’s not uncommon for ongoing projects to be changed significantly or even cut during a merger. Should Netflix’s bigwigs decide they’d rather see more development of video games based on Stranger Things or Black Mirror, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to task its newly-acquired game design studios to that end.
In this manner, the acquisition could potentially be a good news/bad news situation. While we might lose out on some games that players have been waiting to play, what is ultimately published by the merged companies could be better. Granted, it could pump out cash-grab nonsense nobody wants to play just as well, but you have to consider that Netflix wouldn’t spend billions upon billions on acquiring a company with so many assets without a plan in mind. Whatever happens, gaming is likely to change significantly, one way or the other, and it’s something gamers will have to keep an eye on in the near future.
Keep an Eye on the Merger to See How It Impacts Gaming
Industry watchers like us here at ComicBook are eying this acquisition with hesitant hopefulness. Still, it’s not unusual for a company to kill projects that have a lot of interest from the community. When Disney acquired Fox, it didn’t retain all of its game developers; it sold them off, so it’s possible Netflix will do the same. Warner Bros. Games has many active development studios, and it may be financially prudent to sell them to another publisher rather than abandon whatever they’re working on. Doing so would likely kill development of any IPs retained by the newly beefed-up Netflix Games, but only time will tell. Whatever happens, Warner Bros. Games will be sold or broken up soon, and the impact on gaming will be enormous.
What do you think will happen should Netflix fully acquire Warner Bros. as planned? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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